The Diseases of the Medici Family and the Use of Phytotherapy

The Medici Project is a paleopathological and historico-medical research, based on the exhumation of corpses of the Medici Family buried in the Medici Chapels (Florence, San Lorenzo). The scientific research carried out on these remains permits us to reconstruct habits and causes of death of members of this famous family of Italian Renaissance. The comparison between the literary sources and the paleopathological evidence is also important to reconstruct different therapies. Physicians, who assisted the most important persons of the Medici Family, have left a rich literature about their patients: the treatments were based on the use of plants and natural substances. Analyzing these sources is of unique importance and throws light on the therapeutical choices of the time

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and the Teaching of Ignaz Semmelweis and Florence Nightingale: a Lesson of Public Health from History, after the “Introduction of Handwashing” (1847)

Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (1818-1865) and Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) were two important personalities in the history of medicine and public health. They dealt with the problem of handwashing. Semmelweis is also known as the “father of hand hygiene”; just in 1847 he discovered the etiology and prophylaxis of puerperal sepsis and imposed a new rule mandating handwashing with chlorine for doctors. He also tried to persuade European scientific community of the advantages of handwashing. During the Crimean War, in Scutary (Italy), Florence Nightingale strengthened handwashing and other hygiene practices in the war hospital where she worked and her handwashing practices reached a reductions in infections. But unfortunately the hygiene practices promoted by Semmelweis and Nightingale were not widely adopted. In general handwashing promotion stood still for over a century. During current pandemic SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) one of the most important way to prevent the spread of the virus is still to wash the hands frequently

One hundred years after the death of the writer and novelist Giovanni Verga (1922) and his relationship with public health: a glimpse of the past in the era of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic

Background. In 1922 the famous Italian novelist Giovanni Verga died in Catania (Italy). In Verga’s manuscripts there are many suggestions to the world of medicine, in particular the diseases described the poor society of southern Italy at that time. One of the most common diseases described by Verga was the cholera. Methods. The authors searched and examined literature texts and features linked to public health. These are topical issues in the current period with the Covid pandemic. In Verga’s manuscripts we can found the topic of hygiene, epidemiology, infectious diseases. There are many ideas related to medicine: all diseases described the poor society and difficult social settings at that time. One of the most common diseases described by Verga was the cholera but also malaria and tuberculosis.Results: It was estimated that 69,000 people died of cholera in Sicily, 24,000 of them in Palermo. The public health situation in Italy was hard. One of the most meaningful features of the existence of cholera in Verga's manuscripts is the recognition of ignorance of people, who trust on popular stories and approach to medicine’s language.Conclusion: Verga describes a culturally and economically humble society, in the Sicily with a great difference between social class. He portrays a difficult picture of the public health situation in the II half of the XIX century and he traced the people's daily life. The authors think that it’s important nowadays that the centenary of Verga’s death is the opportunity to read his works, also from a medical historical point of view

Remembering Eliahu de Luna Montalto (1567-1616)

Born in Portugal and the son of Marranos (Christianized Jews from Spain), Eliahu de Luna Montalto lived during a particularly harsh period for the Jewish people. Throughout Europe, the situation for Jews was unfavorable; laws had been passed forbidding them to live in England for the past 300 years, and for the past 200 years in France. Additionally, in France, while Jews were permitted to study at some universities, the practice of medicine was forbidden to them. It is within this context that Eliahu de Luna Montalto, who had returned to his original faith (Judaism), was recruited to the French court. This paper pays tribute to Montalto’s life and medical practice—so exemplary that the Queen of France would ask Montalto to serve at the court and receive Papal permission for Montalto openly to observe his faith as a Jew, this despite the objections of the King of France

Magalia, magaria, mapalia (Verg., Aen. IV 259)

In order to a complete commentary of this Vergilian word, magaria (of which magalia is just a phonetic variant) can be compared with Phoenician mgr, ‘temporary dwelling’, and map(p)alia with mph, ‘piece of cloth’